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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Adjustments - Second Corn Muffin

Sometimes you just need to repeat a recipe for the comfort, and perhaps an improvement. As spring break winds to a close (so quickly? Where did it go?!), I'm baking and freezing like a fiend, trying to stuff the freezer with edible goodies before projects, midterms and (!) final exams sweep away all my time. Sadly, I found that corn muffins do not, in fact, taste good frozen, but they are definitely tasty defrosted. As I promised, the first of two recipes to use up that homemade yogurt you made :)

Although I have already posted one corn muffin recipe, I am about to post a twist on the old one. I must confess, this is the only corn bread recipe I have used for the past 3 years. Its combination of edibility and use of exactly one cup of milk (milk at the school is sold in half-pints or quarts, all overpriced of course) made it a favorite. However, I have never been entirely fond of the way it dried out, or how much butter and sugar it used. Recently, though, I have learned to make homemade yogurt, and been experimenting with swapping it for milk and in most of what I bake. The quick recipe that follows is really just a little tweak on the original recipe, but I think it is worth posting again.

These corn muffins are soft and moist on the inside, provided you don't overbake them (I mistake I often made), with a crisp edge fresh out of the oven. Even though it softens that nice crisp edge, the best way to store these is in a closed box or bag. Freeze them tightly wrapped in a plastic bag or two. Defrost either at room temperature in the closed bag, or very briefly unwrapped in the microwave. This works quite well for my homemade breads, too.

The bullseye of my snacks.
Sorry, couldn't resist :)

Corn Muffins barely adapted from Allrecipes.com

Makes 12 muffins, or interestingly, 1 short 9" x 5" loaf

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil (vegetable oil works, too)

¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted

⅓ cup sugar (I prefer brown sugar, but it's up to you)

2 large eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour (I favor white whole wheat)

½ teaspoon salt

Equipment

1 large mixing bowl

1 rubber spatula

2-cup liquid measuring cup

½ teaspoon measure

⅓ cup dry measure

1 cup dry measure

1 12-dimple muffin tin

Butter for the muffin tin

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter the muffin tin.

2. In the large bowl, stir together the oil, melted butter, sugar and eggs. In the liquid measuring cup, mix the yogurt and baking soda (measure the yogurt, toss in the baking soda). Add the yogurt to the oil mixture and combine thoroughly.

3. Toss in the cornmeal, flour and salt. Gently fold in until there are no streaks of cornmeal or flour left. Fill all 12 cups of the muffin tin, approximately ⅔ of the way up. Bake at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!